Pins I Love - Rainbows!

It has been a few weeks since I did a pins I love post. Time is not my friend just now. I had planned to do one today. Just not this one. The one I had planned had no colour. However, it is a dull and grey day here in Glasgow so I killed that one (it will get done another time). I need lots of colour and really there is nothing brighter than a rainbow. Anyone who says they don't like a rainbow is either lying or dead inside. Me I LOVE a rainbow.

I thought I would start with this simple one. I think a beginner could do it. It would be a perfect project for someone learning to crochet. It also won't take to long. Maybe just a little bit of patience in sewing in those ends. It would also brighten up your day. If you have an early start and need a coffee to go you would have the added bonus of this rainbow cuff to cheer you up. Also the knowledge of helping the environment just a little. This is a free tutorial and can be found on a craft website. As always the images link straight to the pages they were found. It is written in US crochet terms but would be easy enough to translate.

Most people who crochet will recognise this straight away. It is of course the famous granny stripe blanket by Lucy of Attic24. The link via the image will take you straight to the tutorial (a British tutorial). It's the one I used for my mood blanket many moons ago (or so it feels). Attic24 is famous for rainbow crochet. So much so you can buy the Lucy Stylecraft pack on some yarn websites. Something I have planned to do but yet to do.

Another crochet rainbow and another free tutorial. I think this is a US one again. I have to say that crochet socks are not my favourite thing to do but I do like the outcome of these. They were designed by blogger Rina of Oomanoot.  I am not familiar with this blog but after a quick perusal it seems like a good one for people who like a variety of crafts.

Not a tutorial and not crochet this time. I just thought this one should be shown. I love a quilt and thought this one was rather pretty. I liked the reverse use of the rainbows. This was done using a jelly roll. Quilters have to be amazed that I actually know what that is. This was stitched by blogger Basildon Kitchens. Lots of lovely photography there so worth having a look.

Lastly I thought I would pick out a more subtle rainbow. Another one involving stitching but this one also comes with a free tutorial. I think this would be easy for sewing beginners too. It's a tutorial on how to brighten up your dish towels. I can see myself doing this and I think it would be rather quick to do. This was posted by blogger Cheryl of A Pretty Cool Life. She seems to love colour and she bakes. Well worth checking out!

Look at the Pretty!

Once again I have nothing to show you. So the other day I was out in my mum's garden taking some photo's. It's looking mighty pretty and that day was the first day in a week that I could step out in it without turning into a mess. Apparently even non-sufferers of hay fever have had it bad lately. It goes to show you that while we Glasgwegians may moan every year about our lack of summer we really aren't built for it.

I digress, I have a few guest posts coming up and some pinterest posts in the pipeline. Until then I thought I would show off my talented mum. I have no idea what most of these plants are (other than the Lillie's and the daisies) but enjoy!

Oops! I forgot that glipho required over a certain number of characters. So to make up the number just a wee reminder that if anyone would like to do a wee guest blog post just leave a comment. I will get back to you I promise.

Stripey Father's Day Socks!

All my photo's have successfully loaded onto my virus free laptop so I can finally share the socks I knitted my dad. Normally I'm not bothered about the socks that I knit for him. He likes plain colours and they aren't the most exciting to knit. Especially since it involves so much more knitting than when I knit for someone like my sister (who likes FUN colours).

The plan this time was to knit him socks that were actually fun to knit. I was aiming for a nice cable but in the end I came to the realisation that it wasn't going to happen. I didn't have enough time to search out a pattern I liked, that was manly enough and that could be adapted for his ginormous feet. Actually that was the problem. I spent too much time searching which didn't leave enough time to knit them assuming that I did eventually find a pattern. So I then decided on stripes. As I have stated a number of times I love a stripe and so I enjoyed knitting them.

I chose muted colours since it was for my dad. I picked out an ivory and a nice charcoal grey. I did think that I would be a little bored with these colours but I actually like them. So much so that I have some yarn left and I am hoping that I might manage a pair for myself. Just don't tell my dad we will have matching socks or I will never hear the end of it. He might take it as a sign that we are similar and I can't have that.

 

The downside to knitting stripes is that it doesn't travel well at the start of each round. You can see the result of that in the above photo. I was fully aware that this would happen so made sure it was to the back of the sock. There is a way to solve it but as I said earlier time was not my friend. So the next stripey pair I knit (and there will be more) will be done so that this doesn't happen. I have the tips in a magazine. I just need to find the issue it was in. Wish me luck on that one.

As for the yarn itself, it would seem that I didn't take a photo of it. I was probably too eager to get started. However, I do have the same yarn in other colours and you can see it above. The ivory is the same but the bright pink is obviously for my pink loving sister. The yarn is by The Women's Institute and is sold exclusively to Hobbycraft. Obviously I went with the 4ply since I was knitting a plain sock. Having said that it is a little thicker than your average sock yarn and so I had to go down a sock size. It's lovely to knit with though and feels almost like a cotton. It's so soft. It can be a little splitty to work with but that's easily managed and the end result is worth it. It's also not a bad price for 100g. I recommend it.

Still All Hush Hush!

 Everything that I am working on just now is hush hush. EVERYTHING! Which makes for some very dull posts. I have finished my dads socks which you would have seen by now but technology has failed me. Or I have failed it. My two month old laptop ended up with so many viruses that it had to be wiped and reloaded with everything. When you have a phenomenal number of photo's on dropbox this takes forever. I could have used my dads computer but I was determined that I would be using my laptop now that it is well again. And can I just say that if I had went with the anti virus programmed that I normally use (and I am using once again) in the first place this would never have happened. In other words it's the last time I listen to my dad even if he does usually know what he is talking about.

Now that I have passed that rant. I did actually make it along to my knitting group for the first time in a month. Which was nice. It was also nice not being the one organising everything (sorry Helen). I worked on my secret cross stitch (of which I have given you a sneak peak) and chatted. The downside is that there are a few things coming up that I am going to miss. Our annual challenge, the end of our charity event and a baby shower.

Speaking of my knitting group how pretty is this teacup and saucer? One of the ladies makes candles in vintage sets and sells them at her craft fairs. I love it and as much as I would like one for myself I thought it would be a perfect gift for my wee granny who loves the unusual. She will be wondering why I have got her another teacup and then she will be 'oh, it's a candle'. So she has her socks and this candles. Any ideas as to what else I could get her?

The baby shower I am going to miss is going to be a little different which makes me doubly gutted to be missing it. The lovely lady in question is going to be wearing traditional Indian dress for the event. Her mum has come over for 6 months to look after her. She made these beautiful beaded bands for her to wear. The one at the top goes round the abdomen. The red is worn as a headband. The two smaller bands are worn round the arms. Another friend did put it on but I don't want to completely steal my knitting groups thunder since Helen has been writing that blog in my absence. I will sneak a picture of Swati in her full regalia. I am sure Helen won't mind.

So between secret projects, final placement, essay writing, studying and applications I have managed to fit in some relaxation. The sun has actually come out here in Glasgow and to make the most of it my sister and I made our way to a bear garden. The one we normally go to was closed but we managed to find a very quiet one nearer to where my sister lives. Which was nice.

There has also been time for walks. I couldn't resist this cheeky duck. Obviously this wasn't his first photo shoot.

Lastly, I have some news. I am looking for crafty guest bloggers. I have a few talented friends signed up to do a one off blog post for me. This is to prevent  boredom setting in for those of you who read my blog. Since my projects are gifts and I can't spend as much time on them as I would like things are going to be quiet around here. I don't want that to happen. Then I remembered just how talented my friends are and some of them don't even have their own blogs (and they should). Maybe this could entice them to start one.

I am looking for other crafty people who would like to guest blog though. It doesn't matter if you already have a blog. Maybe your blog isn't craft orientated and you would like to talk about something that doesn't quite fit in with the feel of your blog. Either way I would love to hear about a post you would like to write. It can be on anything craft related. It can be a story, a tutorial, a bit about your favourite craft, advice to other crafters, a crafting disaster story, about your crafting business, anything. Just leave a wee comment and I will get back to you.

Pins I Love - Father's Day.

Do you know how hard it is to find anything on pinterest that is Father's Day related? Unless of course you are five and making your first father's day projects. Then there is an over abundance of ideas and tutorials. Once you hit your teens (and I am WAY past my teens) it just becomes embarrassing for the most part. I am basically scraping the barrel with this post. However, I didn't want dad's to be left out since Mother's day got a look in. To be honest it isn't just that there is a lack of projects. When you have a father who does not appreciate crafts anyway it makes it that more difficult to choose. I can safely say my dad wouldn't thank you for most of these.

He especially wouldn't thank you for ransacking his ties! Have to say these particular ties are ugly (in my humble opinion). If my dad had ties like this I would be doing the world a favour by preventing him from leaving the house wearing them. Having said that I do like the idea of it. Using old ties to create a fun pillow or cushion.  It looks like it's from a generic 'how to' site but the instructions on how to make one are all there.

These coasters are pretty nifty.  I would actually quite like them myself. Using scrabble tiles means you can spell out whatever you want within the confines of four letter words. There is even the minutest chance that my dad would actually use them. There is the even bigger chance that dad would get given something else instead as I keep them for me. It's another tutorial this time on a blog called Domestic for Dummies. It hasn't been updated in about a month but might be worth checking out anyway.

 Another shout out to the decorated mug. What I like about this tutorial is that it shows you how to get rid of those awful streaks that can occur when using pen. This blog seems to use pens made for porcelain which might work better than the sharpies (sharpies do no stay on mugs even if you bake them). Again not something my dad would appreciate. It doesn't matter how many mugs you get him. He still uses everyone else's and breaks them while his act as dust collectors. This particular blog hasn't been updated since 2011 so I'm not even going to link it. The tutorial though is linked through the image and you could access the blog that way if you are curious.

At last! Something my dad would actually like. Socks! It's a fairly simple pattern which can be found on the craftsy website. The pattern looks like little bricks and it comes in both male and female sizes. It is actually difficult to find pattern for men. Most socks found on line seem to cater only to female sizes. Possible because they are quicker to knit. Sadly the pattern isn't free but it was actually designed by a solo crafter. I always think it's worthwhile paying for a pattern you like if it means you are helping someone who is a solo designer.

Lastly, I quite like these printables for jar lids. I think they are quite cute and could be adapted for anyone. I happen to have a few female friends who love most things with printed moustaches. Plus you can fill the jars with anything you wanted. The printables are free and you can access them by clicking on the image. It comes from a blog called Popsicle which is still being updated.

Pins I Love - Gotta Love a Stripe!

As promised, some stripe love in this weeks pins I love post. I actually didn't have as many stripey items on pinterest as I thought. I will rectify this in the future. However, I still had plenty to chose from for the purposes of this post.

The one I am starting with is kind of a cheat. Does pinstripe count? It's still a stripe if a subtle one so I am going to say yes. Plus I love this skirt. There is no pattern sadly but you can purchase it from etsy seller  Ma chemise d'homme. She upcycles menswear into women's clothing and sells them on her online store. This skirt (in case you can't tell) has been made from a pair of men's trousers. I think it looks better as a skirt.

I love this baby blanket. It's more of a wave but it's so sweet. I love the yarn used. It looks like a cotton from the image but it's actually merino. I also quite like the colours. I wouldn't have though gold to be a great choice but it works. Plus it's also not your stereotypical baby colours which give it extra appeal. This pattern is free to download on ravelry and was designed by Laurence Meriat.

I saw this on pinterest last night and instantly fell in love with it. So much so I immediately went to ravelry to see if I could download the pattern. It didn't have to be free I would have happily paid for it. Alas this is a test knit so there is no pattern available as yet. It was designed by Mairlynd who has sent it out to various knitters for testing. I will most definitely be watching for it. The designer also has a blog which I am linking.

I actually saw these mitts about a year ago. However, I pinned them again today as I couldn't find them on any of my boards. Which makes me think I saw them on facebook. Anyway. These are lovely crochet fingerless mitts. There are a few things I love about them. First of all it looks like it uses fairly simple stitches. Second the stripes and third the buttons. I would make these just for the buttons alone. The good news is that this is a free pattern and the author has even provided a tutorial on her blog.  Her blog is called Cherry Heart and there are lots of yummy crochet images on there.

Of course I am going to have a stripey sock on here. I wouldn't be me if I didn't. These are actually boys socks but I am sure that they can be adapted to fit an adult.You can't see it here but the leg of the sock is done entirely in rib (rather than just the cuff). I imaging this is to stop them falling down but it does have a nice effect on the pattern. Also the stripes are done in single rounds (the ones I am doing are in double). It gives it a nice effect and I have to admit at first I wasn't sure if it was a self striping yarn because of it. The patter itself is on Purl Bee which I am sure I have linked to before.

So that's my ode to the stripe. I have done a few stripey things myself in the past and there are loads of stripey possibilities on pinterest. So I have no doubt that somewhere down the line there will be more.